''Hemipsalodon'' ("half-scissor tooth") is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of hyainailourid

hyaenodonts Hyaenodontidae ("hyena teeth") is a family of extinct predatory mammals from extinct superfamily Hyaenodontoidea within extinct order Hyaenodonta. Hyaenodontids arose during the early Eocene and persisted well into the early Miocene. Fossils of t ...

from

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

subfamily

Hyainailourinae Hyainailourinae ("hyena-cats") is an extinct paraphyletic subfamily of hyainailourid hyaenodonts that lived in Africa, Asia, North America and Europe during the middle Eocene to middle Miocene. Classification and phylogeny Taxonomy * Subfamily: ...

that lived in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

during the middle to late

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

.G. F. Gunnell (1998.) "Creodonta". In C. M. Janis, K. M. Scott, and L. L. Jacobs (eds.)
"Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America, Volume 1: Terrestrial Carnivores, Ungulates, and Ungulate like Mammals"
Cambridge University Press, 703 pages

Description

The skull of ''Hemipsalodon grandis'' is in length, with a lower jaw length of . The most complete skull (''O.M.S.I. No. 619''), belonged to an old individual. It is powerfully-built, and overall superficially resembles the mesonychid '' Harpagolestes''. The nasal opening is quite large. The

canines Canine may refer to: Zoology and anatomy * a dog-like Canid animal in the subfamily Caninae ** ''Canis'', a genus including dogs, wolves, coyotes, and jackals ** Dog, the domestic dog * Canine tooth, in mammalian oral anatomy People with the surn ...

are greatly enlarged. The anterior portion of the skull is broad anteriorly, but narrows down considerably posteriorly.

Phylogeny

The phylogenetic relationships of genus ''Hemipsalodon'' are shown in the following cladogram.

References

Eocene mammals of North America Hyaenodonts Prehistoric mammal genera Clarno Formation {{paleo-mammal-stub